Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Roaming hunstman


We've had pouring rain all night and this morning I woke up to find this charming spider on the wall of my home office. It's a huntsman, deemed harmless, but still the size of the palm of my hand so a pretty impressive sight. Huntsman spiders are interesting in that they don't spin a web but instead are vagrant hunters who roam, stalk and run down their prey. It's this wandering habit that makes them more likely to venture indoors - especially on rainy days, I've noticed. Their bite can be very painful but because this timid creature very rarely bites humans, it is classified harmless. Australian creepy crawlies do take some adjusting to...

Il a plu toute la nuit et ce matin au réveil j'ai trouvé cette charmante araignée à l'intérieur de la maison, sur le mur de mon bureau. C'est une Huntsman, considérée comme inoffensive, mais comme elle fait la taille de la paume de ma main, elle reste assez impressionnante à voir. Les Hunstman (qui aura le nom en français ?) ont ceci d'intéressant qu'elles ne tissent pas de toile mais se balladent à la recherche de proies qu'elles poursuivent et attaquent. Ce sont ces habitudes vagabondes qui les font s'aventurer assez souvent dans les maisons, surtout par temps de pluie il me semble. Leur morsure peut être très douloureuse mais comme cette espèce timide ne s'attaque pratiquement jamais à l'homme, elle est classée comme inoffensive. Ah les bestioles australiennes, il faut s'y habituer...

37 comments:

Pod said...

horror! i had my first encounter a few weeks back and still haven't fully recovered. it was huge! i knew they were harmless but it was in the hallway and i was late for work after shivering on the bed for half an hour wondering what to do! i should show you mine, it had a fang hanging out which my sister thought was my toe!

Anonymous said...

They are lovely creatures, I encourage them. They have thousands of babies but only a few survive. They eat trespassing flies that get into the house. I have never been bitten nor hear of anyone been hurt. Please love and appreciated them and avoid insecticides (rhymes with homicide)
Tony (First Post)

Bobby D. said...

I love a nice spider, but this one might be too large & scary for me. I have never killed a spider, but have moved them out of the house on a piece of cardboard or a tea towel. This one looks like it would have to leave without my interference!

Anonymous said...

wow... so what did you do after you took a picture of it?

Sally said...

They're great to have in your house to help keepm the flies down!

Nick said...

Much as I'd enjoy living in Oz for a while, I think that this is one aspect of the country might put me off more than a little. Yeuch!

hpy said...

Au moins on a moins de mal à les photographier sans être un expert en macro.

alice said...

Même pas peur...

Olivier said...

tu vas pas etre plus avancée, mais si on en croit l'encyclopedie Wikipedia (et il n'y a pas de raison de ne pas la croire) en français on appelle cela : "Sparassidae".
Elle est mignonne, c'est bete qu'elle ne fasse pas de toile, c'est ce qu'il y a de plus beau chez les araignées.
A quand un elevage chez toi ?

photowannabe said...

Thanks but no thanks. I don't care for Roaming Hunstman or spiders in general. You got a great closeup of it.

Kala said...

sheeesh - the fact that their is a remote chance this guy bites creeps me out - I admire your calm nature in grabbing your camera to photograph this! funny to read a calm post on thiscreepy crawler!

Mandi said...

He's giving me the creeps! Especially the hairyness. He doesn't look very nice but I don't know if I'd have the guts to chase him out - I'd be terrified.

Anonymous said...

I have a pet spider every summer. This year I wonder who is will be. I don't have any as charming as your huntsman though.

Gregory Sey said...

Tout est dans ta dernière phrase.
Ca t'a pris combien de temps pour t'y habituer?

Anonymous said...

Hi Nathalie. It's funny. This morning, like you, I found spider in my kitchen. But mine was smaller, the size of a French ant. I don't dare imagine how I would have reacted if the spider was as big as the one at your home. I'd probably have run away and taken my breakfast out.

Gregory Sey said...

Ah oui, sinon, Olivier, Sparassidae, c'est du latin...
Comme toute espèce végétale et animale, les araignées sont identifiées par la nomenclature de classification scientifique en latin.
Sparassidae est une famille d'araignées du sous-ordre Araneomorphae, de l'ordre Araneae, de etc...

Mais tout cela ne nous dit pas pourquoi en Australie on appelle cette famille d'araignées Hunstman et comment on les appelle en français de tous les jours, a moins qu'on ne fasse pas de distinction et que l'on utilise juste le mot araignée...

Anonymous said...

Yikes!! Harmless or not I think I can do without seeing one of these creatures in my house.

Anonymous said...

Yuck - I really like the idea of spiders (eating bad bugs, etc etc) but they still make me shudder. It's the way they scuttle. I would have totally freaked out if I'd seen this.

Deb said...

how you got such a crisp, sharp image of this man-eating giant is beyond me..
I'm quite impressed with the clarity, and I'm equally impressed with the calm manner in which you presented the story.
I would have taken a blurry photo while hanging from the ceiling light!
Nice job Nathalie.

Elaine in the World said...

Hello Nathalie, thanks for the birthday wishes! I love your new creepie friend. Can't you just throw him on the "barbie"?

Dave said...

Great picture my ex-wife would have been paralyzed for days had she run into a spider that size....because she is my ex I can now laugh about it!! Spiders because they don't really bother me too much unless they are on me

Anonymous said...

If I saw a spider like that in my house, I would sell the house and move out of the country.

Mandy said...

Oh my what a reaction from the arachnophobes.

You do have some fearsome spiders in Oz that folks should be wary of, but this lovely creature should be welcomed.

Anonymous said...

I don't think we have those here. They do give you pause, don't they?

Oya said...

Oh, no thanks...

Anonymous said...

Spiders don't bother me, I always just leave them where they are in the house, even the bedroom. They eat the flies (which do bother me). However I've never had to deal with a BIG ONE.

isa said...

Not my favorite subject...although I enjoyed "Charlotte's Web" ;-)

Gerald (SK14) said...

I'm a spider lover too.

We have a few in the bathroom.

Now ants and other little flying insects -- they are a different matter!

freelancer said...

Hooooooooooo Nonnnnnnn ...je déteste ces bebêtes la !

Maxime said...

Franchement, dans la famille des araignées chasseuses, je préfère ma micromatte, pas plus grande que l'ongle du petit doigt !

Cergie said...

En fait ces araignées sont un signal Elles apparaissent à l'automne ici en France Du moins chez moi. En effet à l'automne en général tout de suite en rentrant de vacances, je vois ces bestioles crapahuter à toute blinde partout dans la maison
Elles sont ENORMES, je ne sais où elles pouvaient être avant. Je ne sais pas leur nom et en général quand je les vois de près elles sont plutôt dans un état lamentable
La tienne est encore très présentable. Tu lui as appliqué un traitement létal par gaz ?

The Wellspring said...

Sorry to say, but I'd be right there with Luggi. :) You can read about my encounter with a cockroach this week...my bug phobia runs deep.

Anonymous said...

Cergie oui, je dois avouer que la pauvre n'a pas vecu longtemps après la photo. Elle court trop vite pour être mise en boite et transportée dehors. Et on a beau rester calme, on aime mieux ces petites bêtes dehors que dedans.

Imparfait present, la première fois qu'on en a vu une, on a appelé notre voisin australien au secours, qui a identifié l'animal, nous a fourni une feuille d'identification à coller sur le frigo, où celle-ci apparaissait dans les "sans danger". Munis de notre précieux vademecum, nous avons entrepris de faire comme les locaux, cool.

Anonymous said...

To all of you who care, I have to admit that the beast lived very little after the photo. A powerful lethal gaz took care of her.

Sorry for my Aussie friends, but as calm as I can remain, I'd rather have her out than in, and she's to fast to catch, put in a box and throw outside.

blueboat said...

terrifying - I remember an australian friend telling me that one day she was driving, and pulled down the driver's sun visor, and behind it....was a huge huntsman! Almost caused a big accident!

Ben said...

Quelle horreur!! j'ai des frissons quand je regarde la photo plus de 2 secondes. J'ai une peur maladive des araignées, qui se traduit souvent par un cri et une série d'injures que je ne peux controller.
Celle sur ta photo est affreuse, j'en pleur presque... Bon parfois je prend mon courage a deux mains pour les exterminer (souvent accompagné de nouvelles injures). Je sais il faut que je me soigne.

Anonymous said...

I woke one night thinking I could hear a mouse running across papers I'd left on the floor, but it was only a huntsman, so I went back to sleep. After that, I stopped leaving papers on the floor.